Introduction to the Book of Romans
RCW Version ( 5-14-25)
The Book of Romans should be read with the understanding that Paul intended this letter to establish a long-term, positive structure for uniting Jewish and Gentile Christians into a single ‘Body of Christ’. Roman antisemitism had grown since Pompey’s conquest of Judea in 66 BC. The Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome in AD 49. This was blamed on public disturbances caused by disputes among the Jews concerning Jesus. During the 5 years of this expulsion, the church in Rome was temporarily all Gentile, and may have slightly changed their practices. When the believing Jews returned they might have felt unwelcome. Paul’s letter was written in this immediate context and with inside knowledge due to his association with Aquila and Priscilla who had gone to Corinth because of the expulsion. Paul repeatedly expressed his wish that Jewish believers and Gentile believers would develop a united faith, that they would be gracious and tolerant of each other, and that both groups would benefit from the faith of the other.
The Book of Romans did not produce a lasting union. Even Paul’s personal ministry there for 2 years failed to achieve it. Less than 10 years after the Christians at Rome received this letter, Nero blamed them for the burning of Rome and brutally executed many of the them. Some of these would have known Paul personally. Two years after that, the First Jewish Revolt brought new restrictions on Jews throughout the Roman Empire, and Jewish believers were under pressure to deny that they were Jews. In AD 135, in response to the 2nd Jewish Revolt, and the new anti-Jewish restrictions issued by the Roman emperor Hadrian, Gentile Christians were specifically taking actions to separate themselves from the Jews. That year, the bishops of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria and Rome, ordered their churches to stop meeting on Saturday and worship on Sunday instead. Eventually the church in Rome banned the Christian observance of Passover worldwide, and replaced it with Easter, enforced by religious penalties. Without the influence of Jewish believers, Christianity became strictly Gentile, and fell into several doctrinal errors. Jewish believers would not have allowed Christianity to fall into Hellenistic determinism (emphasizing fate and destiny) which developed into the doctrines of Original Sin, Infant Baptism, Calvinism, etc. This ultimately led to the use of the secular state to execute capital punishment on Christians who did not agree with them. Modern readers of the Book of Romans must not forget that those who now dominate the general understanding of its message, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingly, all authorized the executions of Christians in defense of doctrines derived from Augustine and various Catholic Inquisitions.
I have personally been to the site in Zurich where Zwingli drowned 10 of his own doctrinal students for rejecting infant baptism.
It is my goal to develop a readable version of the Book of Romans that will clarify Paul’s intended meaning as much as possible. Since there are so many useful established English translations, Koine Greek tools and word studies freely available today, there is no practical benefit in starting from scratch. I am more concerned with carefully producing a less convoluted and more direct reading that preserves Paul’s main points. To this end, I consider this work to be a paraphrase, expressing what I believe to be Paul’s true intent. Much effort went into comparing the earliest Christian writings to the text, and deliberately siding with pre-Augustine writers when possible.
God’s plan was to create a united church for His Son. It should be the goal of Jews and non-Jews who believe in Jesus to reunite.